Wednesday, October 7th: We awoke early to start our adventure. The breakfast included with the hostel was not yet prepared, so the man at the front desk gave money to the cab driver to pay for breakfast for us. So, we stopped for some authentic Egyptian breakfast (I don't think they actually eat it this early): falafel and what was pretty much a pita pocket filled with beans. The beans were delicious and the falafel initially tasted good. I don't really like fried food, so when I realized that all falafel is simply a ball of deep fried spices, I regretted eating mine...and Rob's. When Rob said he didn't want the rest of his, I asked him, "Rob, do you not like this? Or do you just not want diarrhea?" <----foreshadowing!
We finally got out of the smoggy air in the city and onto the highway. It was nice moving away from the heavily trafficked streets. The housing along the highway consisted of red brick buildings, none of which seemed to be fully constructed. After about five minutes on the highway, we got our first glimpse of the pyramids. If our trip ended there, I would have been okay. It was so cool seeing these monstrous structures from miles away, until they eventually got lost behind buildings or trees. We drove along a small "river" after we got off the highway. It was mostly a trash receptacle. (SIDE NOTE: Garbage is everywhere in Egypt. There are seldom garbage cans. One simply throws garbage on the street. It took a while getting used to, and once I got back to Germany, I had to catch myself a couple of times!) The strangest thing we saw in the "river" was the pair of dead horses...
Speaking of horses, our driver took us to a "stable" where we were able to choose between a camel or a horse for our trek to the pyramids. We all opted for camels, which were tied together, one behind the other, like a train. Fortunately I was at the front, and got the opportunity to "steer" for a while. Camels are tall animals. So tall, that as we rode through the streets, we looked down on some of the cars that passed beneath us. After we had to dismount for a security checkpoint, we all decided to put on some sunscreen...because it was hot. Oh, that's right. We had absolutely beautiful weather during our trip. 75º during October? Yeah, it happened. Well that was the one time we used the sunscreen...we left it in the camel pack when we left.
Our tour guide and his small sidekick (a kid who met us in the street and stole the reigns from me) led us up the sandy path. Along the way, our guide started telling us riddles and jokes, primarily to practice his English. And anytime he made a disparaging comment about Asian tourists, he assured us everything was in order, because hey, he's got a Japanese wife! As we continued up the mounds of sand, the tips of the pyramids slowly came into view. It was during that surreal moment, that we all began to understand that we were really in Egypt.
We again dismounted our camels, but this time for our photo shoot. It definitely wasn't our guide's first rodeo. That dog could hunt! He took turns with all four of our cameras making (Germans say "making" photos, not "taking" :) ) the same set of pictures for each of us. He had us jump "over" the pyramids, lean on them, and even sit on them! Our guide then told us to stand on the back of my camel. I had to laugh, thinking how many waivers I would have had to sign had we been in the U.S. Following his example, I took my turn on its back. The weirdest was when he had us jump off the camel's back. The entire time I kept thinking, "Boy, I sure hope it doesn't stand up right now."
Our tour guide then led us down to get closer to the pyramids themselves. He was bragging about all the music he had on his cell phone (very common in Egypt to have lots of songs on cellulars) and proudly played us some songs from his collection, namely Celine Dion. That's correct. When I went to go see the Pyramids at Giza, I was listening to Celine Dion. We climbed a pyramid for a nice photo op (which is completely legal) and made our way down to the housing for the builders of the pyramids. Our guide kept telling us it was illegal to go inside these structures, and that he had to go pay off the guards if we wanted to see them. When we told him 50 pounds was way too expensive for this, and that we were okay missing out on the visit, he kept trying to talk us into doing it, saying, "How much are you willing to pay." Translation: The 20 pounds we each payed went directly into his wallet.
He took us into a few different rooms. The coolest room was one into which we had to climb down. The air within the space smelled sweet. It had formerly been a roomed used during the embalming of the mummy. Since they used the fragrant aroma of flowers, the room still had the sweet smell, thousands of years later.
We headed in the general direction of the Sphinx when our guide tried to take us back, but Rob and I wanted some real pictures of it. So we ran down to get some snapshots, only to be accosted by little Egyptian boys trying to sell us rulers with hieroglyphics on them. (Sorry, Peanut, I didn't get you one.) Did you know that when Napoleon marched into Egypt in the early 19th century, he had his troops shoot of the nose of the Sphinx so he could have it shipped back to France? Cool eh?
We rode our camels back to where we started, and then were herded into a room by our tour guide, only to be strongly encouraged to give him tips. That was a bit awkward, but not as much as when our driver took us to a papyrus painting shop. (He had purchased us more falafel, and my hunger outweighed the taste.) But as I mentioned, he took us to a shop. Not really sure what was going on, we were encouraged to enter. I think it was run by his friend. Thankfully Georgio purchased something, because they gave us all free beverages and constantly tried to haggle with us. It was all very expensive, and frankly, nothing I would ever want to buy.
We were finally en route to see the pyramids at Saqqara. We still needed to figure out our flight for that night to Luxor, so we had to call our great friends at Let-Me-Inn...
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